The Wednesday-themed memes around Ortega are funny, but they're burying the most interesting news about filming the Netflix series
Following the release of Netflix‘s original Addams family-based series Wednesday, the internet has started its usual and time-honored tradition of heralding a new it-girl: 20-year-old actress Jenna Ortega. And what’s the best way to celebrate a beloved internet personality? With a meme, of course. Fans have been using the phrase “Jenna Ortega reveals” to push funny but decidedly false “facts” about the Fallout and X actress. But the meme is burying some of the most interesting (and real) information about filming Wednesday — Ortega had COVID during her now famous goth prom scene.
Following Wednesday‘s November 23 debut, the series’ breakout prom scene, a goth dance to the Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck,” went viral on TikTok after Ortega revealed to an interviewer that she had choreographed the jig herself. Since Dec 1, thousands of users have recreated the dance to a sped-up version of Lady Gaga’s Bloody Mary — leading to a 9,500 percent and 1,800 percentincrease in streams for the songs, respectively, according to Variety. Various publications have also been pushing their interviews and articles about Ortega and the Wednesday cast, inundating social media with quotes, photos, and revelations about Ortega’s acting process and inspiration. Not to be outdone, fans decided it was their turn to get in on the fun — using the ever-growing meme to promote their favorite artists, shows, and *checks notes* programming language. Before the meme went mainstream, news about Ortega was rampant enough that one fake tweet even convinced Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson.
The meme follows a similar vibe to an earlier (and much smaller) iteration involving Squid Game actress Hoyeon Jung, which got popular in October 2021. The “facts” people claim Ortega is revealing on her press run are pretty tongue-in-cheek and fairly easy to fact-check. But the sheer magnitude of the meme might be suppressing some actually interesting revelations about the filming of Wednesday.
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In an interview with NME, Ortega said she had COVID when she filmed the now iconic dance scene.
“I’m not a dancer, and I’m sure that’s obvious. I’d gotten the song about a week before, and I just pulled from whatever I could… it’s crazy because it was my first day with COVID, so it was awful to film,” she told NME. “Yeah, I woke up and – it’s weird, I never get sick, and when I do, it’s not very bad. I had the body aches. I felt like I’d been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus. They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result.”
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According to NME, a contact with the Wednesday production company MGM confirmed that Ortega had COVID but had been removed from the set as soon as her test result came back positive.
Some concerned readers have called the production irresponsible for allowing Ortega to film while she had symptoms. But dancing around people with an infectious disease does sound very much like something Wednesday Addams would do. Maybe Ortega was just committed to staying in character?
The star revealed that she actually had some regrets about her viral dance moves in the Tim Burton-produced series, noting how she stayed awake at night thinking how she could've done them differently. Ortega did, however, go on to share her appreciation for the love shown for the sequence and shock at its popularity.
Improvising the dance moves wasn't the only creative input that Ortega had on her character, as she recently revealed that she refused to say a line that she didn't think was in keeping with who Wednesday Addams is as a person.
In addition to teasing a more "action-packed" season 2, Ortega suggested that individual episodes of Wednesday will feel "bigger" moving forward. "I think each episode will probably feel a little bit like a movie," she told E! Online.
“Honestly, this is really well-written, I just don't feel like I want to do the Wednesday dance for promo because we've seen so much of that already and I think it's time to do something new,” the actress tells the Please Don't Destroy crew in the clip.
Although there are actually some moments where Ortega does blink in the show, those moments are alarmingly few and far between. When director Tim Burton decided the character shouldn't blink, Wednesday star Jenna Ortega truly committed to it, making the few times she does shut her eyes feel all the more powerful.
Audiences may be surprised to learn that Jenna Ortega does actually play the cello in Wednesday, despite having no prior experience with the instrument.
What time do you get up on Mondays, and what's the first thing you do after waking up? It depends. I'm usually working, usually [with an] early call time. I'm going to be up around 5, 6-ish.
Jenna doesn't publicly share her phone number or email address. If phone or email is your preferred method of communication, reach out to someone on her management team directly or contact her agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA):CAA email: info@caa.com. CAA phone: 1 (424) 288-2000.
In a tweet, Ortega revealed that the dance was inspired by multiple sources: "Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse's Rich Man's Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the '80's.
On January 6, 2023, Netflix announced the show's season 2 renewal with a mashup of clips from Season 1, videos of fans from around the world, and a new voiceover from Wednesday herself.
Ortega will star in Burton's fantasy film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), a sequel to Beetlejuice (1988). She has also joined the cast of Klara and the Sun (2024) to be directed by Taika Waititi.
In a recent interview with The Times U.K., Ortega revealed she did not desperately want the role of Wednesday Addams. She even turned down multiple offers to star in what would become a breakthrough role. “I got the email, passed on it,” Ortega said. “I had done so much TV in my life.
Turns out, Wednesday's child is not only full of woe but also has some serious choreography skills. Wednesday star Jenna Ortega revealed that she turned down working with a choreographer and instead crafted the Netflix show's now-viral dance all by herself — in just two days.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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